Hungry for the best deal: With doors busting Thursday morning, Black Friday earlier than ever

Sunday

Nov 24, 2013 at 5:00 PMNov 24, 2013 at 5:40 PM

Most major retail chains this year are starting their Black Friday holiday sales well before the Friday after Thanksgiving — the day that traditionally marked the start of the holiday shopping season. It's a trend that has been going on for the last few years.

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor | The Tuscaloosa News

Before the Thanksgiving turkey gets popped in the oven, Black Friday shopping will be underway.Most major retail chains this year are starting their Black Friday holiday sales well before the Friday after Thanksgiving — the day that traditionally marked the start of the holiday shopping season.It's a trend that has been going on for the last few years.Stores once opened at their regular hours for Black Friday. Then came earlier openings. By the 1990s, stores were opening at sunrise on Black Friday, which quickly gave way to predawn openings.In recent years, more major retailers have started their Black Fridays on Thanksgiving evening. This year, many have pushed up the opening hours even earlier, with some kicking off their Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving morning and afternoon.Blame it on the battle for shoppers' dollars. Reports indicate many consumers are wary about the economy and might watch their holiday spending. Add to that the shortest possible time between Thanksgiving and Christmas — just 26 days.“The issue is that, overall, there is low consumer confidence. In particular, there is a great deal of pressure on lower- and middle-income consumers,” said Kristy Reynolds, a University of Alabama professor of marketing.“Wal-Mart and Kohl's both reported poor quarterly results and retail sales are not growing by a large amount” she said. Those quarterly numbers were reflected in July through September sales. They were followed by the temporary federal government shutdown in October and then ongoing uncertainty related to problems with the federal health care law, which have added to the wariness.“To make matters worse, Thanksgiving is later this year, giving shoppers fewer days to shop,” Reynolds said. “Thus, the environment is going to be extremely competitive. This is why stores like Kmart started advertising their holiday lay-away in September, and Black Friday promotions began several weeks ago. Retailers just can't take any chances.”Kmart is starting its official in-store Black Friday sale at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. Many major retailers also have been advertising Black Friday-like specials among their weekly sales for the last few weeks. In the past, those big discounts might have been reserved for Black Friday “doorbusters” — the unbeatable lures to get shoppers into the stores when the doors open. This year, more retailers will kick off Black Friday shortly after sunset on Thanksgiving. Toys R Us will open its stores at 5 p.m. Thursday and other most of the major retail chains will have their stores open within a few hours after Thanksgivng sunset.University Mall's anchor department stores — Belk, Sears and JC Penney — will open at 8 p.m. Thursday. More than 30 of its smaller stores also will open at that time. The mall's website last week showed another seven shops opening a midnight and four more opening at 5 a.m. Friday.“By 6 a.m. on Friday, we expect all stores to be open,” said Denise Connell, the mall's marketing director and assistant manager.Meanwhile, schools and many non-retailing businesses will be closed on Friday, giving many people a free day in which to shop.“I still think Black Friday and the Black Friday weekend will be important because it is a tradition,” Reynolds said. “Many shoppers like to go out and shop that day, and there may be even bigger discounts on that particular day. There will also be several stores opening on Thanksgiving Day and promoting lots of discounts and deals for that day, too.”The National Retail Federation said its preliminary Thanksgiving weekend shopping survey indicates about 140 million people nationally will shop during the four-day holiday weekend, down from 147 million last year. Of the 140 million, about 33 million are expected to shop on Thanksgiving Day either in-store and online, it said.Friday will remain the four-day holiday weekend's biggest shopping day with about 97 million shoppers, the federation said.For those looking to avoid the crowds at stores, the best time to shop in West Alabama will be Saturday afternoon during the Iron Bowl, the intrastate football rivalry between Alabama and Auburn. The game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. in Auburn. At least in Alabama, the crowds at store taper off during the game.

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